1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for the transmission of digital data, and more particularly to a multilevel data encoding and modulation technique for telecommunications and data transmission.
2. Description of Related Art
Various techniques have been developed for encoding and modulating baseband signals for transmission over transmission lines, both wire cables and fiber optic, and for transmission in wireless applications. The simplest transmission technique is binary signaling over a single cable, with the information encoded in two voltage levels or symbol types. This method of transmission is limited by how fast the voltage level, or other symbol type, can be changed given the harmonic content of the baseband signal before the signal becomes distorted by noise, interference, etc. In order to increase data throughput, several multilevel techniques have been developed, one of which is tokenizing, which allows two or more bits to be encoded by a single timing interval. For example, in a quaternary signaling system, a first voltage level may represent a binary “1” followed by a second binary “1”, a second voltage level may represent a “1” followed by a “0”, a third level a “0” followed by a “1”, and a fourth level a “0” followed by a “0”.
Multilevel techniques permit faster transmission of data (twice as much data in the same bandwidth in a quaternary system), or the transmission of data at the same rate but in a smaller bandwidth (half the bandwidth in a quaternary system). One problem with multilevel signal techniques is that conventional multilevel signals contain a range of frequencies due to the varying bit patterns of the data bits. Consequently conventional multilevel signals occupy a greater bandwidth than necessary. Another problem is that they result in reduced noise and interference immunity as compared to binary signaling, as it becomes more difficult to distinguish between symbol states (voltage levels, frequencies, etc.). A third problem is that multilevel signals require more complex receiving equipment to demodulate and decode the signal.
The following patents show a representative sampling of different data transmission methods.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,230,310, issued Jan. 18, 1966 to A. P. Brogle, Jr., describes a “biternary” pulse code system with two trains of binary pulses in which one train is delayed by half the time interval of a pulse and added to the second train of pulses. U.S. Pat. No. 3,317,720, issued May 2, 1967 to A. Lender, teaches a polybipolar system with a complicated algorithm such that there is an odd number of multiple signal levels in which the center and all even number signal levels are spaces and all odd number signal levels are marks.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,181, issued Feb. 13, 1968 to N. B. Braymer, discloses a system with two levels to indicate mark and space, respectively, in which each bit is a doublet having positive and negative excursions of equal amplitude. U.S. Pat. No. 3,723,880, issued Mar. 27, 1973 to P. J. Van Gerwen, shows a system which includes a five level signal, but which does not require alternating positive and negative pulses.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,944, issued Apr. 8, 1975 to Mack et al., teaches a dibinary method for encoding nonsynchronous binary data to increase data transfer which manipulates binary data to form a three level output by randomly switching positive to negative to concentrate the signal in a lower frequency range. U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,826, issued Sep. 14, 1976 to A. X. Widener, describes a method for minimizing distortion in a bifrequency system by reducing the amplitude of low frequency bits in the latter part of the bit period.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,095,187, issued Jun. 13, 1978 to Y. Yoshida, shows a demodulation circuit for a quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) multiphase system in which two modulated carrier waves are combined. U.S. Pat. No. 4,408,189, issued Oct. 4, 1983 to Betts et al., discloses a coding scheme for quarternary level signals which divides binary bits into words of length n bits and adds an n+1 bit to indicate which words are inverted in order to eliminate the D.C. component of the signal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,550, issued Jul. 9, 1985 to Graves et al., describes an improvement to the '189 Betts patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,046, issued Aug. 12, 1986 to J. J. Ludwick, shows a converter for doubling the channels on a transmission line from forty-eight to ninety-six by transmitting an unrestricted four-level pulse-amplitude modulated signal rather than a standard bipolar signal. U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,206, issued Aug. 30, 1988 to P. J. Van Gerwen, describes a complicated code scheme for transmitting digital data above voice.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,661,758, issued Aug. 26, 1997 to M. E. Long, teaches a method of encoding data on a carrier wave by coding the data as “disruptions” on the carrier wave, each disruption being characterized by the starting time in a wave period and by duration of the disruption. German Patent No. 2,213,897, published Nov. 27, 1973, describes a system for “automatic equalization” of multilevel signal systems.
United Kingdom Patent No. 2,014,401, published Jan. 17, 1979, discloses a pseudo-ternary system with a three level signal in which the third level is used to indicate two consecutive logic “1” or logic “0” bits. International Patent No. WO 83/00967, published Mar. 17, 1983, teaches an encoding scheme for communication between a controller and a disk drive or other memory device which uses a fixed bit interval with a positive pulse representing a logic “1” and a negative pulse representing a logic “0”. When a logic “1” is followed by another logic “1”, or a logic “0” is followed by another logic “0”, the first bit interval contains a second pulse which has the same magnitude and duration but opposite polarity from the first pulse in the bit interval.
Japanese Patent No. 58-145259, published Aug. 30, 1983, shows an electrical circuit for shaping a waveform. European Patent No. 226,514, published Jun. 24, 1987, shows a carrier phase shift keying (PSK) or frequency shift keying (FSK) modulation device which operates on a duobinary signal.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.